"Thank You Mary"

Lighting her candle

Thank You Mary!!

Josie walked most of the way into church today. It is the first time that she has attempted her canes there. We arrived 25 minutes early to take on this task. We tried to arrive before all the little old ladies that park in the very front handicap spots so it wasn't so far to walk. We were too late!! She walked most of the way and as it got closer to the start of Mass there were so many people that it affected her concentration. I was impressed she got as far as she did. After church, Josie wanted to light a candle by Mary like every Sunday. Every Sunday she lights a candle and prays for her sister and her walking. She adds in other intentions also but these 2 remain constant. Today she walked up on her canes looked up at Mary and said, "Look Mary, I am walking. Thank you Mary." Thank goodness there were people around or I would have burst into tears. Nice Mark Tebow and his daughter, Charlotte, stuck around with us. Mark was able to take the picture for us. She wasn't steady enough at the moment for me to get that far from her. Mark and his family serve as a host family for Healing the Children. After she lit her candle and prayed to Mary she walked part of the way out. That was enough for the moment.

We got to go to the Livingston's for a while with the Eger girls. It is always a treat to get to be with these amazing families. Josie, of course played with May and Melissa. We go to have a concert by Grant who is 14 and very talented on the guitar and as a singer. He played us a few songs. I was surprised Josie wasn't trying to sing along. Just give her a moment to get to know him better.

At the store tonight there was a power outage. It was very weird to have the whole place go completely dark. Josie had my cell phone so she was using it as a flashlight. Strange.

We had a nice dinner here with Jeanie and Roger. Fun to be together. We are going to miss everyone very much when we leave. We will look forward to seeing them in April.

We begin our last week here. Josie said that she is excited to work with Przemek this week because it is getting easier to use her canes. This week is about tightening it all up. I also need to spend the week focusing on what to do as she advances. We are recording her this week so we can take it back to her therapists at home so they can help with the regime. It is going to have to stay strict and strong. We can't afford to go backwards at all. This is were I have to really step it up. With her already using the canes around the house it will be easier to enforce this at home. Pibb, her dog , comes on Thursday and so does my mom. We will spend the weekend with the trainer so we can get trained. It is an exciting week and an exciting time. I am so thrilled with her progress I can't believe it. She isn't fast on her canes yet, but she can do them. The hardest part is behind us. Thanks to all of you for reading this and for all your support. Jenny and Josie